Re: Bloomsday (16 June)

 Ar an séú lá déag de mí Meitheamh, scríobh Ross Clark:

 > "This day celebrates the life and writing of Irish author James Joyce
 > (1882-1941), chiefly be retracing the route through Dublin taken by Leonard*
 > Bloom, the central character in _Ulysses_....the action of the novel takes
 > place entirely on a single day: 16 June 1904, which was also the day Joyce
 > first went out with Nora Barnacle, whom he later married."
 >
 > *That's _Leopold_ Bloom! Two gaffes in two days! This book needed an editor.
 >
 > Bloomsday is a real thing. A few years ago I went to a Bloomsday celebration at
 > a local "Irish pub" called the Dogs Bollix. Some professional readings, some
 > amateur singings, and lots of drinkings. Good fun.

It gets lots of attention in the Irish Times (among other local media),
probably disproportionate to the level of activity in Dublin. But yes, a real
thing.

 > When I briefly visited Pula, Croatia (at the southern tip of Istria) in 2009, I
 > was surprised to see a life-size image* of JJ, seated at a table outside a
 > local cafe. I knew he had lived in Trieste (which is not far away); but before
 > that, for a few months 1904-5, he had a job in Pula (then called Pola),
 > teaching English at the Berlitz School, mainly to Austro-Hungarian naval
 > officers.

My generation did a lot of TEFL, less so Joyce’s. Great option if you studied
something not particularly marketable beziehungsweise graduated with a degree
in CS in the Dot Com Bust.

 > *I wanted to say "statue", but is it a statue if it's sitting? Sitting on a
 > horse, OK, but sitting at a table, drinking coffee?
 >
 > "While he was in Pola he organised the local printing of his broadsheet The
 > Holy Office, which satirised both William Butler Yeats and George William
 > Russell,"
 >
 > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce
 > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pula

--
‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
(C. Moore)